


I Love You

by SuperWhoFangirl



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Canon Gay Relationship, Dinner, Drinking & Talking, Fluff, Happy Ending, Love Confessions, M/M, My First Work in This Fandom, Nervous Oswald Cobblepot, One Shot, Romance, episode 3x06
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-09-14 04:21:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9161173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperWhoFangirl/pseuds/SuperWhoFangirl
Summary: An alternate ending to episode 3x06, in which Edward never meets Isabella, and brings back a bottle of wine to enjoy with Oswald, while the other man confronts his feelings for Ed head-on.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Gotham fan-fiction, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. With my feelings left absolutely assimilated by episode 3x11, I made this to keep my hopes up in a sense (why do I do this to myself?) I love Nygmobblepot so much, and my biggest hope is for this ship to turn out alright in the end. I really appreciate comments, so please don't be shy! Enjoy! :)

Ed beamed across the table at Oswald, his hands folded neatly in his lap, and posture perfectly erect. He quickly bent over to snatch up an expensive wine bottle nestled between his feet, and he brandished it like a trophy in his arms. 

“Ta-da!” Edward chuckled, and settled the bottle onto the table with a muffled thud.

“I would like to thank you, Ed,” Oswald pursed his lips and narrowed his eyebrows, “All that you have done for me; _my campaign_ ,” Oswald smiled gleefully, his eyes twinkling.

“My pleasure,” Ed grinned, and crossed the room to fill Oswald’s cup.

Oswald waited patiently for Edward to sit back down, and he absently studied the reflection of the fireplace in Ed’s glasses as he worked up the courage to speak.

Ed reached across the table to cut a slab of pork for himself, but Oswald made no such move. In fact, he wasn’t hungry at all. Oswald had been anticipating this meal since he had made up his mind to tell the Ed how he really felt about him. Now that they were finally alone together, Oswald could feel his nerves building up again, causing his glass to shake violently and teeter in his hand. 

_It was now or never._

“Mr. Penguin?” Ed’s expression became concerned as he noticed the growing tremor in Oswald’s arm that had caused some of his drink to splash onto the tablecloth. “Is everything alright?”

“Please, _Oswald_ ,” he put up his hand and took a deep breath, “It’s all alright, Ed,” Oswald said softly, his eyes searching Ed’s, and voice wavering ever so slightly as he sopped up the spill with a napkin, “I was just thinking,” Oswald hesitated, “These months that we’ve spent together – I’ve never had a better time in my life. After my mother-,” Oswald paused to swallow a sip of wine, his voice cracking, “You have been everything I could have asked for and more. Thank you, Ed – truly.”

Edward put his silverware down with a sigh, “Of course; I could say the same for you, Mr. Penguin. _Oswald_ ,” he corrected himself, his face distorting slightly, revealing his crooked bottom teeth, bared in a tense cringe.

The silence between them spread painfully, until the only sound left was the popping of firewood in the fireplace, and Penguin fidgeting with his glass.

“In fact,” he focused his eyes on a small square of carpet at his feet, and tried to steady his shaking voice, “I am afraid I haven’t been completely honest with you.”

Edward nodded slowly, and scooped a mouthful of salad into his mouth, chewing with mild disinterest.

“This morning, when I said I had something to say to you…”

Ed looked up, still chewing, this time with a skeptical expression on his face, half hunched over his plate.

“Oswald, you haven’t touched your food. I must insist you eat something.”

“I love you,” Oswald breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the tension in his shoulders dissolve, and he was left feeling shaky and faint, quickly sobered by the weight of the words he had just uttered.

Ed paused, and his jaw opened so quickly that a bit of spinach fell from the corner of his mouth onto his plate.

“Oswald,” Ed repeated, his voice faint and breathless, a nervous smile quivering on his lips as he began to chuckle. “Is this a joke?” Ed leaned in and narrowed his brows, suddenly very serious. “Are you joking?”

“N-no, I-,” Oswald’s lips quivered, his eyes widening dramatically.

Ed fell back in his chair, and crossed his arms, thinking hard while examining Oswald’s facial expression. Suddenly he threw his head back, and his booming laughter pierced the silence like a sharp blade through butter.

Oswald’s features tightened with confusion, and he began to tremble as an embarrassing heat flushed his cheeks.

“I have a deep affection for you as well, Oswald,” Edward enunciated, and met the other man’s eyes with a grin, before picking up his knife and fork and stuffing his mouth with salad.

Oswald sighed and closed his eyes, as a smile of relief eased onto his lips, and he opened them slowly, as if the simple action would somehow ruin the moment.

“Now we must get on to planning the charity ball. I was thinking purple drapes - and perhaps you could wear that purple suit of yours to match. And what about the tablecloths? I’m sure white with blue trim would fit best; what do you think?” Edward rambled, and focused his attention back onto his plate, simultaneously filling his mouth and mumbling nonsense, which might have well been poetry by the way Oswald gleamed.

“I think white with blue trim would be just _perfect_ ,” Oswald snatched up his fork and reached forward to spear a chicken leg from a large plate on the middle of the table.


End file.
